Bahamian woman rescues 97 dogs to save them from Hurricane Dorian

Nearly 100 dogs in Nassau were going into Hurricane Dorian homeless, so one dog lover took them all in herself.

Chella Phillips is sheltering 97 dogs inside her home in the Bahamian capital during Dorian’s slow-moving stay in the islands. A whopping 79 of them share her master bedroom, she said in a Facebook post.

CNN was unable to reach Phillips on Tuesday. Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas, the shelter she founded, said she’d lost power.

However, Phillips shared photos of the makeshift shelter ahead of the storm. It was about as cramped and messy as you can imagine.

But for the most part, the dogs stayed calm. She kept AC blowing and music playing. Sick or anxious pups waited out the hurricane in donated crates. The doors and windows were barricaded. And not one of the 79 dogs attempted to jump into her bed, she said in the post.

“We may not get hit as hard as other islands and the saddest part is that after the hurricane leave the Bahamas, some islands will take a long time to recover,” she wrote. “Each island has [an] abundance of homeless dogs, my heart is so broken for the ones without a place to hide a Cat 5 monster and only God can protect them now.”

Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas, told CNN Phillips is a “one-woman band,” caring for more than 200 homeless dogs every year with little assistance. For 15 years, she’s nursed them back to health and rehoused them in the US.

Phillips said in a Facebook post Monday that her home had flooded, but all 97 dogs were doing well.

Once things on the island of New Providence are up and running and airlines resume flights to the Bahamas, Phillips will resume finding her furry roommates new homes, the shelter said.